


learning to grow (and growing to learn)

by mimdecisive



Series: She-Ra One-shots [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Gen, Glimmer-centric (She-Ra), Mending Relationships, Post-Canon, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 5 Spoilers, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25672924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimdecisive/pseuds/mimdecisive
Summary: Glimmer knew things weren't going to be normal immediately. But how does she go about fixing her relationship with Adora?or: S5 barely addressed how Glimmer treated Adora last season so I did instead.
Relationships: Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra One-shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988623
Comments: 7
Kudos: 101





	learning to grow (and growing to learn)

Glimmer... Noticed.

With the end of the war, Bright Moon was quiet. Quieter than she remembered it being.  
There were meetings, and arrangments to be made and paperwork to file. And the sounds of the waterfalls trickling faintly were not enough to drown out her sighs.

Honestly, she felt bored. Without anything to fight, all the hours she spent training just seemed useless. Throwing knives at her walls didn't have the charm that it used to.

On the really slow days, she'd call her friends on the tracker pad. Bow was visiting his dads, so he didn't always have time to pick up. One of his older brothers was visiting.

So that left Catra and Adora. At this point, it was easy to consider them as a package deal. Adora barely left Catra's side, and vice versa. Well, being apart for so long could do that to you.

"Hey, guys," Glimmer said, hoping her tone wasn't too bored.

"Hey," Catra responded. Adora wasn't on screen, but Glimmer heard some familiar rustling that sounded like she was fighting the furniture, "Adora!"

Glimmer put her hand over her mouth to laugh, "What's she doing?"

"Entrapta sent some 'house-warming' presents, as she put it. To celebrate me moving into Bright Moon, I guess," Catra said, "Anyways, it's Entrapta. She sent some robot hamster or whatever. It's eating the cushions."

"No, stop!" Adora shouted somewhere off-screen, "Ugh--Hey! That's my foot."

"She okay?" Glimmer asked. Catra glanced behind her.

Adora laughed nervously, "It's alright! I have it under control!"

"It's eating the carpet," Catra said.

"It must really hate carpets," Glimmer joked.

"Yeah, maybe. Entrapta didn't actually say what it was supposed to do in her note. Or maybe she did. I could only understand half of what she actually wrote. Guess that's why she does audio logs, huh Sparkles?"

"Hopefully it's not one with lasers," Glimmer replied, "The last thing you need for your room is a hole in the wall."

There was another crash. Catra's ears twitched, and she sighed, "Adora."

Adora stumbled onto camera, looking completely exhausted, "I got it in a box."

"The box is moving."

Adora flopped onto the bed and whined audibly, "It's too strong."

"Yeah, well, that's Entrapta," Catra said, "Hey, you wanna talk to Sparkles?"

Adora looked up from the bed, and suddenly noticed the video call, "Oh, hey Glimmer."

She didn't sound as enthusiastic to see her as Glimmer was to see Adora. It felt like forever since they had a full conversation. Ever since they got back to Bright Moon, Adora had been in her room.

Which was good. It was good that Adora was resting. She worked really hard.

It just, it sort of worried her. To see Adora still look so exhausted stirred up concern. She can't remember the last time she was in Bright Moon and didn't see Adora at least once a day.

"You look tired," Glimmer commented, because it was good to best honest.

"I'm fine," Adora said, automatically. Glimmer felt like she had barely just gotten the sentence out of her mouth. And that worried her.

"Don't worry," Catra said, as if reading her mind, "I've been making her take a break. She's been trying to get back out there."

"There's still a lot to do," Adora whined, "I'm She-Ra. I should be helping with the rebuilding efforts."

"It's fine, Adora," Glimmer said, "We have it covered. It's mosting just boring meetings and paperwork, anyways."

"I just think I should be doing more."

"There's nothing more you can do," Glimmer replied, "You're already done plenty. You saved Etheria. Now, you just need to rest."

"I have rested! Catra, back me up, I have rested!"

"Barely," Catra said, "You layed down for like, five minutes before you got up to do push-ups. I had to lay on top of you to prevent you from training."

Glimmer frowned. Adora was refusing to rest. It sounded like Catra could use a little extra help in making her relax. (Glimmer remembered how hard it was to make her relax for one day, back when they went to Mystacor. And she had Bow with her. Now, this wouldn't do...)

Her expression turned into a smile at her idea, "Hey, Catra?"

The aforementioned feline's ears twitched at her name, and she glanced at the screen.

"Why don't we all have a sleepover? Like old times. That way, we can all make her rest," Glimmer said, "I remember how hard it was to get her to relax in Mystacor."

"Right, you mentioned you guys used to have those. And cake, I guess. Sounds like a good idea. What do you think, Adora?"

At the attention turned on her, Adora just awkwardly smiled, "Um. Sure. I don't need any more rest, though."

"Perfect! Then I'll make the arrangments. I'll see if Bow can come. His brother's leaving town soon, so he might be able to make it," Glimmer said, "If not, I guess it'd just be the three of us."

"Really?" Adora asked, "What about, uh, Frosta? I bet she'd like to come."

"Frosta's busy. She's helping rebuild Salineas, remember? And then once they're done that, they're going to help Scorpia with her kingdom. Perfuma said they're clearly up the plants safely so they don't hurt them."

"Oh. So... Sea Hawk busy?"

"He's also helping with Salineas. I don't think he's much help with rebuilding," Glimmer commented, "But I guess he's free entertainment."

"Swift Wind!" Adora said suddenly, "Um, Swift Wind could come. He's always said he wanted to be included in more things, so um. Who are we to deny him?"

"I thought Swift Wind was dealing with former Horde soldier rebellion," Glimmer raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, right," Adora deflated, "Okay."

Did.. Did Adora not want to be around Glimmer if there wasn't a bigger crowd? She was fine being around Catra, so it couldn't be being around her and Catra. But she hadn't reached out to her since the war ended...

Maybe Glimmer had to do some more reaching out. She almost sighed, but she didn't want to seem annoyed. She had a lot of work to do.  
This sleepover would be a good chance to fix things, and she was going to take it. She'd just have to get to the bottom of this.

  
Bow wasn't able to attend, unfortunately. Glimmer worried about that, given Adora's hesitance to seemingly attend a sleepover with just Glimmer and Catra. He was busy with his family, which was fine.

Glimmer worried how Adora would take it, though. But hey, maybe this way she could get her to open up about whatever was bothering her.

Glimmer changed into her star-printed sleepwear while she planned out the sleepover. Normally, it was just something they did kind of impulsively. They just decided what to do automatically. 

But... Things had been weird since the war ended. Glimmer didn't want to have to end up having to fill the silence herself.

So she wrote down all of Adora's favourite foods she could remember, which was a bigger list than Catra's, and asked the chefs to make some of them. Brought out a couple board games they used to play before, well, everything.

But she remembered Adora liked some of them. Particularly the one with the horse piece. She wondered if Adora would still like them, or if that's an activity that just isn't as fun as they remembered.

Adora paced the room back and forth the room with anxiety.

"So, why exactly don't you want to have a sleepover with Sparkles?"

"What? It's not that," Adora said.

"So that's why you kept trying to find someone else to attend if Bow couldn't?" Catra raised an eyebrow, "You don't have to have a sleepover, you know. I'm just asking because you agreed."

"I..." Adora paused, "It's just been... Weird. I thought I was over what happened, but... I just feel weird. I should be okay with it by now."

"You don't have to be okay with anything, by any specific time," Catra said, "That's what Perfuma says, anyways, but what exactly are you referring to?"

"You know," Adora gestured with her hands wildly, "I just... Glimmer was so withdrawn when she became Queen, and we... Things never really got back to normal."

"They will," Catra reassured, "Hey, maybe that's why she asked to have a sleepover in the first place."

Adora smiled, weakly, "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I can do this. I can handle one sleepover."

  
Glimmer almost teleported into the room, but decided against it ultimately. She knocked on the door. Adora was still pretty jumpy from Prime, she didn't need her popping up unannounced.

Of course, it made carrying the board games a little more difficult.

"Hey," Catra greeted, opening the door, "So, what's on the schedule?"

Glimmer grinned, "Funny you should ask. I drew up a plan this time. I know how much Adora likes plans, right, Adora?"

"Yeah," Adora agreed, semi-uncomfortably. Did she... Not like plans anymore? She always approached EVERYTHING with a thorough plan and research. Even Princess Prom.

Glimmer shrugged it off and placed down the board games on top of the still moving box she guessed probably contained the robot Entrapta sent. It weighed it down, so the robot just hit the sides of the box. 

"Okay, so I got the board games... Snacks are in the kitchen. And the planner..." Glimmer handed a folded piece of paper to Adora, "I think we're all set!"

Melog brushed up against Glimmer, who in turn pet them. 

"Sparkles, I hope you didn't make your war plans like this," Catra commented, glancing at the planner, "I mean, this isn't very specific."

"That's the fun of it," Glimmer shrugged, "We never stick to a strict plan anyways. Room to improvise."

"How were we losing to you?" Catra laughed. 

Glimmer stuck out her tongue at Catra in return. Adora fidgeted uncomfortably.

"So!" Glimmer said, suddenly. Her voice was louder than she had intended, clearly, because Adora seemed to visibly wince at the noise, "What should we do first?"

Glimmer noticed.

  
Glimmer didn't miss the unusual behaviour Adora was exhibiting. Adora was the focus tonight, so why would she? It was clear as day.

She didn't know how to close the distance between them. Glimmer felt like she was still in space, miles away from her friends.

She sucked in a breath. Glimmer made her next move in the board game, but her mind was elsewhere. She felt like she should be having fun, hanging out with her friends, but... Things felt so weird.

How did she fix them? Would Adora tell her what was wrong?

The quiet used to comfort Glimmer. It used to be relaxing. So why, now, did it feel like it was consuming her? Why did it feel so thick and cold, so suffocating? Why... Why did it make her feel so alone?

Glimmer took in her breaths carefully. She didn't want to overthink, or she'd get upset. Focus on Adora.

"Hey," Glimmer said, "Anyone want snacks?"

Snacks. That should liven things up. 

Catra shrugged, and Adora mumbled a 'sure'. Good enough.

"Alright, let's go," Glimmer placed a hand on each of her friends shoulders. She didn't miss how Adora almost withdrew from the touch.

She teleported them to the hallway, because half the fun had always been pretending to be in stealth mode to get the snacks.

Adora put a hand on Catra, who needed a moment.

"I'll never get used to that," Catra complained.

Glimmer smirked, "Not with that attitude."

They scampered through the hallways and glanced around corners and around the guards, who were probably purposefully ignoring them.

They threw open the doors to the kitchen, which were deserted because she gave the staff the night off after they made the snacks. (Doing so reminded her of her mother, but for once she didn't give it any thought.)

Glimmer saw Adora smile a little when she noticed all her favourites. Glimmer had smiled in return, but her eyes met Adora's and her friend frowned. She felt her own smile fall.

She resisted a sigh. Okay, so she had to talk to Adora about this. They couldn't just pretend something was bothering Adora, even if... That's what Adora usually did, and was currently trying to do.

"Hey, Adora?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you for a moment? In private?" Glimmer specified, glancing towards Catra. 

"Uh, I guess, why--"

"Great!" Glimmer said, grabbing Adora and teleporting out of the room. She teleported to her own room, because she knew it'd be private. Her own room felt so foreign to her.

"Alright, we need to talk."

"We do?" Adora asked, "I mean, I kinda guessed that's why you said 'can I talk to you for a moment', but..."

Glimmer raised an eyebrow, and let out the sigh she had been holding in, "Adora, you know what I mean. I know you know. You've noticed."

Adora rubbed her arm uncomfortably, "I've noticed... Um. What in particular?"

"I..." Glimmer sighed, "Things have been weird lately. And I don't know why. Ever since the war ended, you don't talk to me. I want to know what's wrong, Adora."

"It's stupid," Adora said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so weird."

"Don't apologize," Glimmer replied, "It's not stupid. And I'm not asking if it is. You're allowed to have feelings, you know."

"I know," Adora sighed, "It's just... I thought I was over everything that happened, and that everything could go back to normal. But I don't feel like things are normal. I... I don't know why I stil feel upset. I'm just making a big deal of things."

"You're not making a big deal of things," Glimmer said, "You're allowed to be upset by things. I was a jerk, and you don't have to be over it."

"I should be," Adora mumbled, "I just... I know you didn't mean it. But I keep thinking about when you said the rebellion was better before I joined, and... I don't know how I feel."

Right. She said that to Adora. Did she... ever properly apologize for that, specifically? For blaming her, for lashing out? She had just been so angry and upset.

Glimmer gasped, "I... I forgot I said that. There was so much going on, I... I can't believe I said something so horrible to you."

Glimmer sighed, "Adora, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And you don't have to forgive me, you know. You can be upset. I hurt you. I know I hurt you. I didn't have any right to say that to you, just because I was upset."

"It's... It's fine."

"It's not," Glimmer said, "Adora, what I said will never be 'fine'. Even if we move past it, it was never okay. I hurt you. I betrayed you. And I'm going to make it up to you. I'm going to do better, and I'm going to be a better friend. If you want me to. Still be your friend, that is."

"I do, I want you to," Adora was quick to reply, "I don't know why I'm so weird about it. Besides. I'm supposed to take care of you. It was the last thing Angella asked me to do."

"Is that what she said?" Glimmer raised an eyebrow.

Adora nodded, "She said, 'take care of each other'."

Glimmer laughed, through tears, "Each other, Adora. It doesn't have to be only you. I'm supposed to take care of you, too. And I'm going to."

She sucked in a breath, "I shouldn't have sided with Shadow Weaver. I shouldn't have lashed out at you, and I shouldn't have broken your trust. I shouldn't have set off the Heart. And I should've talked to you, instead of... Instead of withdrawing, like I did. And I'm going to do my best to make up for it. I'm going to be a better friend. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Adora said, and she moved closer to Glimmer like she was expecting a hug. Glimmer wasn't one to refuse, but she wasn't done talking yet.

"It will be, someday, maybe. But let yourself be upset, for as long as you need. And let other people handle problems. She-Ra isn't the only member of the Rebellion, and you've done more than enough," Glimmer told her.

Glimmer chuckled, "I didn't mean it, and I know you know that, or say you know that or, whatever. But I want you to know, the Rebellion was nowhere without you. I was nowhere without you. You made us better, you made me better."

"I haven't been a good friend, but I want to start now. For you, and Bow and Catra. I want to be there for you. For you, and not She-Ra. Because you're Adora, and you're one of my best friends."

She can't see Adora's face, but she was pretty sure she had started crying. 

"And you were so, so right. And one day, maybe we'll be able to laugh about it. But for now, let yourself have feelings."

"Okay," Adora agreed, "Okay, I will. Glimmer?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you say all that, if you didn't mean it?"

Glimmer sighed, "I was... blinded. Everything was just... so much. I never thought I'd actually be Queen, and now suddenly we were split up. We didn't go on missions, and everyone was telling me they had it covered... I felt so useless."

"And it was just... easier, to lash out. I was looking for a scapegoat, and I was so, so upset. It's not an excuse, but I promise I'll never say anything like that to you again."

"Do you think it?' Adora blurted out.

"No! No," Glimmer said, "It just came out, spur of a moment. I never felt that way, and I never wanted you to think I did. And I know the damage is done. I already said it, after all. But I'm going to do my best to prove otherwise."

She hugged Adora tightly, "Just... If something like this bothers you again, can you promise me you'll talk to it about someone? Don't bottle things up anymore. You're not alone, and even if you don't feel like you can talk to me about it... If you did, I'll always be here to listen."

"I know. I won't," Adora said, "Bottle things up, I mean. I talk to Catra, and Perfuma's had us both attend her meditation."

"That must be hard for you," Glimmer joked, "Meditation requires relaxation."

"It is," Adora sighed, "It's the beach on Mystacor all over again."

"We're still friends, right...?"

"Yes, Adora, we're friends," Glimmer replied, "But let me earn your trust back. You don't have to give it. I want to work for it. And if you never trust me like you used to, that's okay. Change isn't that scary, it's just different. Things don't have to be normal."

"Well, normal for us was fighting a war, but that's over so," Adora smiled.

Glimmer laughed. Maybe they could heal the cracks gradually, fill them with gold and heal. Maybe she could help Adora trust her, to know she cared about her. But it wouldn't resolve itself overnight.

"We probably shouldn't leave Catra waiting," Adora said.

"You're right," Glimmer smiled. The words sounded so easy, but just a few months ago they had been so hard to admit, "Plus, we can't let the cake go to waste."

  
"Catra," Adora scolded, "You can have your own piece, you know."

"Where's the fun in that?" Catra asked, stealing more frosting from Adora's cake. She ate nothing but the frosting. Glimmer giggled.

"You know I could get you a tube of frosting from the kitchen," Glimmer suggested.

"Aw, but then I don't get to bother Adora," Catra said, and she put some of the frosting on Adora's lips and then proceeded to use it as an excuse to kiss her. 

"Brat," Adora smirked.

"Idiot," Catra returned.

"But I'm your idiot," Adora said, "You jumped into fire for me."

"Shut up," Catra shoved Adora, who shoved her back. 

And things weren't as awkward. The silence didn't suffocate her anymore, wasn't colder than Frosta's kingdom like it had been before. There weren't as large of gaps. It was a start.

And Glimmer was okay with that. Because you had to start somewhere. It was her fault for waiting so long, if anything.

  
But that was okay. Because she was learning, and she could grow as a person. And one day, things might not be normal. But that doesn't mean they'll be bad.


End file.
